


Charm

by Otterly



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Folklore, Polyamory, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 11:03:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15023177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otterly/pseuds/Otterly
Summary: Skye tells Nick something





	Charm

**Author's Note:**

> A quick (late) thing for /trash/'s Thematic Thursday: Folklore

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“No.”

“And why the fuck not?” said Skye, with a glare made harmless by the tired, worn out look on her face, as per what it usually looked like after an orgasm.

Nick raised an eyebrow from underneath her, idly petting her back. “Because what kind of good pillow talk comes after someone asks ‘Hey, can I tell you a secret?’”

“Come _onnnn_.”

Around them, the fading light painted a blueish purple over the majority of their lavish living room, washing over the supple curves of their nude, entangled bodies like they were underwater, darkening their fur and leaving their eyes as the brightest things in the room, outshining even the white couch on which they lay.

Blue, as true as the sky, seemed to be all that Nick could see. “It’s something you can’t tell the rabbits.”

At that, Nick’s ears perked to attention. A secret to be kept from their other two lovers?

“This isn’t anything relationship breaking, is it?” he asked, a smidge worried that she might have broken the law in a horrendous fashion, or eaten the last piece of carrot cake that she didn’t have dibs on.

“No!” gasped Skye, scandalized. “It’s completely harmless.”

“Then why can’t Judy or Jack know?”

Her voice donned a tone of conspiracy, and mischief. “It’s a fox secret— _I can hear your heart beating faster I know you wanna know!_ ”

“Fine. Fine,” chuckled Nick, mirroring the grin that Skye was now assaulting him with. “What is it?”

“You were raised by your mom, right?”

He nodded, unsure of where this could possibly go.

“Did she ever…teach you anything?”

Nick gave her a glare. “That’s a terrible stereotype.”

“Not like _that_ ,” Skye groaned. She nestled into him further, curling up on his lower torso. “I’m talking about, like, magic.”

He blinked, looking down at the back of her slender neck. “Magic — what do you mean, magic?”

“Magic! Rituals,” she droned, nonchalant. “Spells. Witchcraft. That sort of thing.”

She turned to face him again, and giggled softly as his dumbfounded expression. “I thought so, but I had to make sure.”

Nick was fully awake now. Skye’s paw had found his; she idly played with his larger pads as they spoke through the growing darkness. Night was setting in rather quickly outside.

“Why do you ask?”

Skye’s mouth formed a hard line for the slightest of moments, and sprung back into a beaming grin. “Can I tell you a story?”

Nick sighed. “Only if—

 

* * *

 

No one remembers where we came from. We only know that foxes came from somewhere. Or maybe we didn’t. Maybe we were just everywhere, suddenly, one day.

We used to have magic.

It’s true! We used to. Apparently.

They — I’m not even sure who ‘they’ is — say that we lost it at some point, and then we got it back.

A girl. It first showed up in a girl, a long time ago, when mammals were settling and even though peace had been made, rabbit flesh was a taste that could be remembered.

There was a village. Standard, modern population. Ungulates. Rabbits. A few predators here and there.

Foxes, at the edge of it. They weren’t trusted, obviously. We’ve never been trusted.

There were twins that lived on the outskirts with their family.

Esmerelda, the girl, and…and I forget the boy’s name. He’s not as important.

Esmerelda was clever, as all of us are. But — you saw this coming — she was the cleverest of all the foxes in the village. It’s said that even though the farmers threw blankets of burlap over their wares when they saw her coming, and mammals strayed to the side when she walked by, she would always return to her home with a sack of food and silver, all without paying a thing in return.

Or maybe they still bartered back then. She got everything for free is the point.

Every day she’d leave. Every day she’d return, arms full of food and whatever luxuries she felt like having.

In time, her stores were filled to the brim with food, and her wealth grew abundant, despite the fact that she was a fox.

And no one knew why, or how. The other foxes couldn’t conceive it. No amount of tricks, lies or stealth could perfectly replicate her success.

Her brother approached her in their garden one day, nervous, with his fur on end and his eyes wide. Esmerelda was known to be temperamental, and closed off. She had never been with him, but he had never asked her to explain her secrets, either. And today was the day that he decided he would ask.

She was planting seeds when he walked up behind her, wringing his hands.

“Esmerelda,” he said.

She said his own name in response.

“I have a question for you.”

“I know,” she said. “Ask it.”

And so he asked her how it was possible that she could go out into town, and come back home with half of its possessions, all without doing any kind of work, and without slipping into debt. How she had built for herself a house of food and gold and ale when all the other foxes in the village lived on bread crumbs and stolen carrots.

Then she told him.

She had these dreams. They told her the words to say and the things to do. Rituals and offerings. Witchcraft? Maybe. She wasn’t communing with anything in particular. She was just doing what she knew she had to.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because,” she placed a gold coin into the patch of seeds that she was planting. “Then all I need to do is ask.”

* * *

 

“Why are we talking about this again?” Nick asked. He felt as if hours had passed, though the story could only have taken a couple of minutes.

Skye grew silent. The cheer that usually graced her features was gone. Normally this would have been chilling, but there was something about her reservation — Nick didn’t feel scared. He was almost in a trance.

“Sometimes, if I do things correctly,” Skye whispered, and it was like she was whispering into a microphone, and her voice was amplified by a thousand speakers. “Leaf litter in barren dirt, or holding my breath before jumping into water...no, not sometimes. All the time. I…”

She trailed off.

Nick furrowed his brow. “What—“

“You’re happy with me, aren’t you?” she asked, expression unchanging. Like she was playing poker. “You weren’t happier when it was just you, Judy and Jack.”

Nick breathed out shakily, to his surprise. It was as if he hadn’t exhaled in years. “Skye. I don’t—“

“We’re home!”

In sync, their ears perked and their snouts twitched as the combined scents of Judy Hopps and Jack Savage glided smoothly into the air around them. The two foxes (still very nude) shot off the couch, excitement burying any traces of whatever conversation they were having before.

The rabbits had left on a road trip, you see, and now they were back. Questions flooded out from Nick and Skye as they circled the two grey prey, and they received stories in return.

Day was but a fading memory outside, and as the stars shone above, the moon shone brighter than all, casting down a pale white glow and soaking the apartment in an otherworldly light, elegantly swallowing whatever dark corners that dared to exist in the apartment.


End file.
